Here we go. Only a week of voting left.

Next Sunday, May 1st, I will officially announce my next city. I’ve had a lot of votes so far and here is how it stands (combining the original poll with the current one):

Seattle = 46 / Austin = 44 / Denver = 38 / Portland = 30

As you can see, Seattle and Austin have come out as the frontrunners.

People are commenting to me on the site and in my day-to-day about how I should go here or there, or how I should definitely not go there. But it isn’t up to me. It’s up to you. I wish there was a way of quantifying all of those opinions, because I appreciate them a great deal and hope people will continue to share them with me.

In the end, though, it’s all coming down to the numbers.

There is still time to vote, seven days. Seven days to help forge history.

The very being of this project has changed because of seemingly unconnected decisions. If I hadn’t moved to Philly after Charlotte, I likely wouldn’t have gotten so involved with a bunch of online writers that led me to a 48-hour drunken weekend in Los Angeles where I met a woman that would eventually become my roommate in SoCal. In fact, I never would have gone to SoCal if not for that. And then I wouldn’t have moved to San Francisco the next year (though I presumably would have done it sometime).

I was actually going to do Chicago after Philadelphia, originally.

So, these decisions change history. And this year, I’m asking that you be the engine for that change. Maybe I’ll end up in the city you vote on, maybe I won’t. But if I don’t, maybe I will next year. Of course, there’s no way to know, because the beauty of this project is how unpredictable it can all be.

Maybe if I move to Austin, I’ll establish a friendship with someone who goes on to become a famous musician. Or if I end up in Seattle, maybe I’ll be unable to find a job and end up flailing for my life. The Ups and Downs of this project cannot be predicted, and I would have it no other way.

Everything is maybe.

I want you to be a part of it. 1o Cities / 10 Years is the story of America from 2005 to 2015 (still in progress). We’ve been to war, we’ve entered recession, we’ve elected the first black President and we’ve seen revolutions in technology that alter the way we connect with each other and our world.

We’ve also gotten married, had kids, gotten divorced, lost loved ones, graduated from school, changed jobs, changed cities, bought houses, bought cars, raised animals, become vegetarians, drank alcohol, found faith, lost faith, slept for days or slept barely at all and found ourselves on the other side of wisdom. Still fools.

Vote or Die

One last time, I’m asking you to help spread the word. Let your blog readers know to come and vote. Encourage your Facebook friends to check it out (speaking of which, ‘like’ the 10 Cities / 10 Years fan page). And if you haven’t done so already, be sure to vote.

When you vote, think about why you are where you are in your own life. Is it because you’ve finally reached your Promised Land. Or are you, like me, in the midst of a journey, not quite where you want to be, but closer each day to your goal, with the past always receding further behind you.

Or are you stuck?